


同情

by enbyboiwonder



Category: Battery (Anime)
Genre: Episode 5, Episode Tag, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 14:22:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29065773
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enbyboiwonder/pseuds/enbyboiwonder
Summary: doujou: [n.] sympathy, compassion
Relationships: Harada Takumi & Nagakura Gou, Harada Takumi/Nagakura Gou
Comments: 3
Kudos: 3





	同情

**Author's Note:**

> Takumi said he didn't want Gou's sympathy, and I thought, _What about compassion?_ Of course, '同情' can mean either "sympathy" or "compassion," but it's clear he meant sympathy. Sympathy, empathy, and compassion, though similar, are all separate things, and Gou definitely seemed to be displaying compassion. And then Takumi unintentionally ended up falling asleep for the night rather than just a nap, and then this happened.

Gou pokes his head into his room an hour later to see if Takumi wants dinner and finds him still sound asleep, sprawled out on his stomach with Gou's oversized shirt rucked up around his waist, arms tucked under the pillow and shoulders hunched up around his ears. He's going to give himself a crick in his neck sleeping like that, but he supposes there isn't much to be done about that.

He pulls the blanket shoved to the foot of the bed up to cover the pitcher's slumbering form, then sits carefully on the edge of the mattress, mindful not to disturb him. He reaches out to brush Takumi's hair back from his face, the silken strands slipping through his fingers like the moonlight reflecting off them.

It's not sympathy, though. He doesn't feel sorry for him, not exactly. He just _feels_ for him, wants to do whatever Takumi will let him to help.

His hand lingers a little longer, palm curled around Takumi's skull and fingers tangled in his soft hair. He's overcome with the sudden, overwhelming urge to lean down and press his lips to the pitcher's temple, and Gou doesn't even try to resist it. He lets his hand slide down to rest against the mattress next to Takumi's shoulder, watching his hair fall back into place over his brow, wishing Takumi could always look as untroubled, unburdened as he does now.

With a soft sigh, he stands, casting one last look back at the pitcher as he closes the door soundlessly behind him, then gathers up Takumi's discarded uniform to wash it, pouring the rest of his frustration and anger into scrubbing out the dark bloodstains crisscrossing the white fabric.


End file.
